DOUBLE TROUBLE (Sebastian Sallow x F!MC)

four: the manuscript of the entire torrid affair

Sebastian was annoyed by those words, imagining her being forced to endure continuous meetings with questionable people her parents deemed "potential good matches". It was troubling how pure-blood families were so obsessed with genealogy to the point of reaching those levels.

— Can I try? — Daisy asked after a moment of reflective silence from Sebastian, pointing at the cigarette he held.

Sebastian took it from his lips, holding it between his thumb and index and bringing it closer to her lips in an apparently innocent gesture that elicited the same sensations as a much more erotic and intimate one. Daisy took a drag, inhaling deeply, letting Sebastian's fingers continue to hold it between her lips, more to understand why he liked it than out of a real desire to try a cigarette.

— I'm sorry for the scene I caused the other day. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable — the slytherin said abruptly, catching Daisy off guard.

She nodded, letting Sebastian bring the cigarette back to his lips. — It's alright now.

— You know, I think if we hadn't complicated things during our fifth year, we'd be great friends now.

Daisy laughed, a hint of bitterness in her tone. — Sure.

— Do you regret anything? — he asked, stroking nervously the back of his head. He cursed himself for the abrupt question, because he truly didn't want to know the answer in case it was positive.

— You mean, between us? — she questioned and Sebastian nodded. — No, I don't. The only things I'd go back in time to change don't concern our relationship.

Sebastian nodded at that sentence, knowing perfectly well what she was referring to. And he couldn't have agreed more, even though his shoulders relaxed a bit at those words.

Daisy and Sebastian continued to talk for what seemed like hours — though it was only about forty minutes — in the courtyard, laughing and joking as if they had gone back to their fifth year and had just spent the night in the soft light of the Undercroft. Neither of them wanted to end the moment, too keen to catch up on everything they had missed during that year apart.

— I don't think I've ever managed to read anything by Hemingway. — Daisy confessed, causing Sebastian's eyes to widen in surprise.

— I can't believe it — he exclaimed, taken aback by the information he was receiving. — You need to catch up on him. He had an interesting mind.

— Do you think so? Yet the last time I tried, I couldn't even get through the end of the sixth chapter.

— Yes, I think you should. He would have had lovely things to say about you — Sebastian blurted out, without even having a chance to stop the words coming out of her mouth. Yet, Daisy only smiled; but it wasn't the classic circumstantial smile she would often give to her friends; it was a timid, sweet smile that she reserved only for him. Or at least, it was reserved only for him.

Daisy wrapped herself in her robe to shield herself from the cold as she and Sebastian walked through the Central Hall to access the Dungeons and their common room, both eager to feel the warmth of the crackling fireplaces.

— Daisy?

Daisy froze in her steps when she heard her boyfriend's familiar voice calling her with an evidently confused tone.

— Garreth! — exclaimed Daisy, forcing a smile as she noticed Sebastian's surprised gaze, taken aback almost as much as she was. — What are you doing here?

— Aunt Matilda wanted to talk to me about my class schedule — Garreth replied, his tone tense as his gaze shifted from her to Sebastian a couple of times. — What about you?